Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Although noise, commonly defined as unwanted sound, is a widely recognized form of pollution, it is very difficult to measure because the discomfort experienced by different individuals is highly subjective and, therefore, variable. Exposure to lower levels of noise may be slightly irritating, whereas exposure to higher levels may actually cause hearing loss. Particularly in congested urban areas, the noise produced as a by-product of our advancing technology causes physical and psychological harm, and detracts from the quality of life for those who are exposed to it.Unlike the eyes, which can be covered by the eyelids against strong light, the ear has no lid, and is, therefore, always open and vulnerable; noise penetrates without protection.Noise causes effects that the hearer cannot control and to which the body never becomes accustomed. Loud noises instinctively signal danger to any organism with a hearing mechanism, including human beings. In response, heartbeat and respiration accelerate, blood vessels constrict, the skin pales, and muscles tense. In fact, there is a general increase in functioning brought about by the flow of adrenaline released in response to fear, and some of these responses persist even longer than the noise, occasionally as long as thirty minutes after the sound has ceased.Because noise is unavoidable in a complex, industrial society, we are constantly responding in the same way that we would respond to danger. Recently, researchers have concluded that noise and our response may be much more than an annoyance. It may be a serious threat to physical and psychological health and well-being, causing damage not only to the ear and brain but also to the heart and stomach. We have long known that hearing loss is America’s number one nonfatal health problem, but now we are learning that some of us with heart disease and ulcers may be victims of noise as well. Fetuses exposed to noise tend to be overactive, they cry easily, and they are more sensitive to gastrointestinal problems after birth. In addition, the psychic effect of noise is very important. Nervousness, irritability, tension, and anxiety increase affecting the quality of rest during sleep, and the efficiency of activities during waking hours, as well as the way that we interact with each other.
5. The word it in the first paragraph refers to ___

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
Faster processors and advances in memory technology have made today’s smartphones much more powerful than a lot of computers from just a decade ago. With wireless technology, people can surf the internet, play online games, send e-mail, and do (1)_________ all the things they once could only do on a computer. (2)__________, they have the power to do things constantly at their fingertips. Many people (3)_________ that while smartphones are powerful tools, they are making people reliant on them. Why would a person need to learn to read a map when he can get directions to anywhere by simply asking his phone a question? Who needs to learn maths when you have immense calculating power in your pocket at all times? What (4)__________ is there to memorise facts about history, art, or geography when that information is readily available from a portable Internet interface? There are just some of the questions being asked and answered as smartphone usage continues to spread. Like any technology, smartphones have their advantages, but they do have disadvantages as well that we must (5)__________ an eye on.

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
I am sending this e-mail to make a (1)------- on behalf of our division manager. As you know, our robotics design project has a deadline of August 31st. We're on target to meet  that  deadline,  but  we'd  like  to  finish  even  earlier.  The  sooner  we  complete  the engineering  design  and  pass  it  on  to  manufacturing,  the  sooner  we'll  get  this  product  to market. We (2)------- that by having everyone work through the whole summer, which means giving up your summer holidays. Not forever, though. The CEO has offered five additional vacation days to the members (3)------- to hold off on their vacations until our part of the project has been wrapped up.

Choose the best answer:
I usually ______ to school by bus.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
An Amazing Invention
Look at your hand, and it might not seem very interesting at first, but it is an amazing tool. In fact, the human hand is as complex and as useful as a high tech machine. This might sound strange to you, but the development of the human hand changed the world. For example, the thumb helped human beings become the smartest and most powerful animals on the Earth. Your thumb is important because it faces your other fingers. This allows you to hold things, like tools. Being able to hold tools allowed our ancient ancestors to build things and become more advanced. It is also possible that when we developed thumbs and started to use tools, our brains developed faster as well. And how about this? Your fingers are the only parts of your body that are moved by a “remote control”. A remote control is the small device that you use to change the channel on your television. Your fingers are controlled by remote because they don’t have any muscles. You control your fingers with the muscles in your palms. The palms are connected to the fingers by tendons. The palms pull the tendons, and move them the same way a string moves a puppet. Every part of the human body is complicated, but the hand is especially complicated. It has a total of 29 bones. There are 34 different muscles that move the fingers and the thumb. Seventeen of those muscles are in the palm, and 18 are in the forearm. The human hand also has 48 nerves and 30 arteries. An artery is like a vein, but it carries blood away from the heart. Human beings are not as strong or as fast as other animals. However, our ancient ancestors were able to rule the world for two reasons.  First, they were intelligent. Second, they had these amazing instruments called hands. There is no other invention like them in the world.

1. What is important about the thumb?
 

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Chelsea _____ next Sunday.

Choose the best answer:
to/ Mary/ likes/ visit/ the/ best/ pagoda.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
Of the many sports that people play, most have evolved over time from simpler games or a combination of different games. Basketball is different in this (1)________ because it was a game specifically invented to be an indoor sport. Its purpose was not to be just fun and challenging. (2)_________, it was invented fortrack and field athletes to use in order to stay in shape during the winter, while also being relatively safe to play. The person who made up the game was a physical education teacher at a school in Springfield, Massachusetts named Dr. James Naismith. It only took Naismith two weeks to come (3)__________ the game. He took a basket that had originally held peaches and nailed it high up on the walls of a gymnasium. The players then used a soccer ball and to get it in the basket while being blocked by other players. Naismith’s reason for putting the basket high up on the wall came from his (4)_________ that more injuries in other games happened near where a goal was. In this case, the goal was the basket, so he believed the higher up it was, the safer the players would be. Eventually, the game progress like so many other sports did, and it became quite popular. A second basket was added, rules of play were (5)_________, and the sport of basketball as we know today was born

 I am flying to the States tonight. I _____ you a ring if can find a phone.

(245)_____

British families started going on holiday to the seaside around the middle of the 19th century. The invention of the railways made this possible. The first holidaymakers were quite rich and went for their health and education. The seaside was a place to be (1)__________of illnesses, and doctors recommended bathing in the sea and drinking sea water. Also to increase their knowledge, families attended concerts and read books from libraries. At that time, ordinary working people had very little time (2)__________. However, in 1871, the government introduce four “Bank Holidays” – national holiday days. This allowed people to have a day or two out, which now and then gave them a taste for leisure and the seaside. At first they went on day-trips, taking (3)__________ of special cheap tickets on the railways. By the 1880s, rising incomes meant many ordinary workers and their families could have a week’s holiday at the seaside. Rail fares were reduced and cheap hotels were built to (4)__________ them. Holidaymakers enjoyed being idle, sitting on the beach, bathing in the sea, and eating ice-cream. Cheap entertainment was (5)__________ offer and holidaymakers went to have fun. Today, the English seaside remained popular, with more than 18 million holidays taken there each year.

(52)_________

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
Of the many sports that people play, most have evolved over time from simpler games or a combination of different games. Basketball is different in this (1)________ because it was a game specifically invented to be an indoor sport. Its purpose was not to be just fun and challenging. (2)_________, it was invented fortrack and field athletes to use in order to stay in shape during the winter, while also being relatively safe to play. The person who made up the game was a physical education teacher at a school in Springfield, Massachusetts named Dr. James Naismith. It only took Naismith two weeks to come (3)__________ the game. He took a basket that had originally held peaches and nailed it high up on the walls of a gymnasium. The players then used a soccer ball and to get it in the basket while being blocked by other players. Naismith’s reason for putting the basket high up on the wall came from his (4)_________ that more injuries in other games happened near where a goal was. In this case, the goal was the basket, so he believed the higher up it was, the safer the players would be. Eventually, the game progress like so many other sports did, and it became quite popular. A second basket was added, rules of play were (5)_________, and the sport of basketball as we know today was born

Choose the best answer:
The Red Bull team is considered as __________ finalist of the two teams.

Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

On December 10, 2006, I was going through some hard time. The landlady did not want to release the house any more so I had to (1) _____ and only had one month to find a place. Because Christmas was coming and it was difficult for me to (2) _____ a suitable accommodation. I had only some money (3) _____. I could not buy a Christmas tree and some presents for my three boys, (4) _____ I had to use the money to find a place to live. To me, it broke my heart as I could not prepare the Christmas for my three boys. I have been their only parent since my husband (5) _____ away two years ago. I was so sad and everything was getting on my nerves. Although I managed to solve the problem myself I could not help (6) _____ my sons about the things. When I suddenly woke up at midnight, I found my eldest son was sitting (7) _____me. He kissed me and said, "Don't worry, Mum. We love you very much and always stand by you (8) ____ happens." At the moment I started weeping, grabbed him and kissed him. His words and love made me (9) _____ all about what I was stressing about.

In fact ever since that moment, I have realized that I can overcome any problems thanks to my sons' love. The most important thing of my life is that my boys are safe and healthy, and they bring me joy all the time. The memory (10) _____ me that nothing really matters, when I have the love of my children.

(7) _____

_______, he will go out with his friends.

     (148)_________

Choose the best answer:
“How are you?” “___________”

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Cholera, a highly infectious disease, has resulted in millions of deaths time after time over centuries. It is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera, first isolated by Robert Koch in 1883. The organism enters the body through the digestive tract when contaminated food or water is ingested.The bacteria multiply in the digestive tract and establish infection. As they die, they release a potent toxin that leads to severe diarrhea and vomiting. This results in extreme dehydration, muscle cramps, kidney failure, collapse, and sometimes death. If the disease is treated promptly, death is less likely. In many countries, a common source of the organism is raw or poorly cooked seafood taken from contaminated waters. The disease is especially prevalent after a natural disaster or other destruction that results in a lack of fresh water. Sewer systems fail, and waste travels into rivers or streams; piped water is not available so people must take their drinking and cooking water from rivers or streams. Because people frequently develop communities along waterways, the disease can be spread easily from one community to the next community downstream, resulting in serious epidemics
6. Which of the following would be an appropriate title for this passage?

Find mistakes:
English, together with Literature and Maths, are compulsory subjects in the national curriculum.

Choose the best answer:
If/ there/ be/ fire/ in/ your house, call/ 114.

Choose the best answer:
" May I go out, Mum?" - " No, I won't let you go out"

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the undelined part that needs correction in each of the following questions:
Early peoples had no need of engineering works to supply their water. Hunters and nomads camped near natural sources of fresh water, and populations were so sparse that pollution of the water supply was not a serious problem. After community life developed and agricultural villages became urban centres, the problem of supplying water became important for inhabitants of a city, as well as for irrigation of the farms surrounding the city. Irrigation works were known in prehistoric times, and before 2000 BC the rulers of Babylonia and Egypt constructed systems of dams and canals to impound the flood waters of the Euphrates and Nile rivers, controlling floods and providing irrigation water throughout the dry season. Such irrigation canals also supplied water for domestic purposes. The first people to consider the sanitation of their water supply were the ancient Romans, who constructed a vast system of aqueducts to bring the clean waters of the Apennine Mountains into the city and built basins and filters along these mains to ensure the
clarity of the water. The construction of such extensive water-supply systems declined when the Roman Empire disintegrated, and for several centuries local springs and wells formed the main source of domestic and industrial water. The invention of the force pump in England in the middle of the 16th century greatly extended the possibilities of development of water-supply systems. In London, the first pumping waterworks was completed in 1562; it pumped river water to a reservoir about 37 m above the level of the River Thames and from the reservoir the water was distributed by gravity, through lead pipes, to buildings in the vicinity. Increased per-capita demand has coincided with water shortages in many countries. Southeast England, for example, receives only 14 per cent of Britain's rainfall, has 30 per cent of its population, and has experienced declining winter rainfall since the 1980s.
In recent years a great deal of interest has been shown in the conversion of seawater to fresh water to provide drinking water for very dry areas, such as the Middle East. Several different processes, including distillation, electrodialysis, reverse osmosis, and direct-freeze evaporation, have been developed for this purpose. Some of these processes have been used in large facilities in the United States. Although these processes are successful, the cost of treating seawater is much higher than that for treating fresh water.

One of the causes of water shortages in South-east England is     .

Choose the best answer:
Singapore/ located/ Southeast Asia.